This week, all nine school districts serving District 49 students were each awarded a $25,000 grant through the School Safety and Security Grant Program.

More than $60 million in new funding was dedicated in the current year’s budget to improve school safety. The grant program was specifically designed in a way that every school district that applied received equal funding.

Recognizing that each school’s needs are different, the grant program assists with hiring school security officers, purchasing security-related technology, completing safety and security assessments, implementing violence prevention curricula, offering counseling services for students and creating other programs to protect students.

District 49 school safety and security grant recipients include:

Belle Vernon Area School District.

Bentworth School District.

Bethlehem-Center Area School District.

Brownsville Area School District.

California Area School District.

Charleroi School District.

Frazier School District.

Ringgold School District.

Uniontown Area School District.

This latest round of grant funding, totaling approximately $225,000 for schools located in the 49th Legislative District, is in addition to the $70,000 in targeted school safety grants that were previously awarded to Charleroi ($30,000) and Ringgold ($40,000) school districts.

Nothing is more paramount than providing for the safety and well-being of our future leaders and their families should never have to worry when they send them off to school. Again, I was pleased to support this worthwhile initiative as part of the final 2018-19 state budget to ensure that our schools have the necessary resources in place to maintain a safe and secure learning environment for students, as well as the faculty and staff.

Fighting Opioid Abuse

A new law that requires opioids to be prescribed electronically will bring consistency in the way prescriptions are filled and will also prevent the fraudulent use of prescription pads to fuel the opioid crisis.

At one time, written prescriptions were the safest form of prescribing opioids, which state law required. Since that time and the rise of the opioid epidemic, providers’ prescription pads have been stolen, leading to fraudulent use and driving fake prescriptions for the addictive drug.

Act 96 of 2018 (formerly House Bill 353) will make it more difficult to have fake prescriptions filled, while also making it more convenient for patients who have a legitimate need for the medication. Currently, most all medications are prescribed electronically.

Another benefit of e-prescribing is that the tracking of the prescription can go directly to the state’s prescription drug monitoring database to help ensure only those who have a legitimate medical need for these prescriptions can access them.

Turn Those Clocks Back This Weekend

Daylight saving time will end at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 4, and Pennsylvania residents will be turning their clocks back one hour before going to bed on Saturday night.

Experts recommend using this reminder to check or change the batteries in smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms. Smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms should be replaced every 10 years, and located near bedrooms and on each level of the residence.